How Not to Copy Game of Thrones | House of the Dragon Review 

It was so frustrating, watching Rheneyra constantly complain about how things aren't fair, and doing absolutely NOTHING to help her situation. She had EVERYTHING set up for her - a father who supports her claim over her younger brothers, her pick of husbands, and a younger brother who would not only accept her claim but is so sadistic it would probably take little to prove to the small council that SHE is the safer choice. If she spent her days studying, attending every council meeting possible, building the trust of commoners and nobility alike, and strengthening her relationship with both the councillors and Allicent as much as possible - she *WOULD BE QUEEN!* Instead, she devotes her every day to being a problem!

I enjoyed HotD. I quite liked how Aemond's killing of Luc was not his sinister plan but because he couldnt control his dragon, which harks back to what Viserys said about the Targaryan control of dragons only being an illusion. I wasn't as keen on the change with Cole, he went from being this intentional murderer to being a bit crazy cos he was rejected after a fling he took for more than it was. Him holding the grudge for years just makes him seem unstable and not in a menacing Daemon way. Rhaenyra not wanting the throne made sense cos she was always told as a woman she didn't matter. Her father kept seeking to have a son, and even his brother was assumed to be heir over her. She didn't matter so of course she'd say she wanted to have a fun, indulgant life when she was still a teenager. Then when Viserys has a son she assumes he's going to replace her, after finally being named as heir. It makes sense that old insecurities come up then, even the other lords assume she will be replaced. As someone who is always made to feel less than due to her sex, it makes sense that it will crop up again. And even as an adult when she goes into labour when she wants to plot war, this again reminds her that her being a woman is a weakness in the fight for the throne.

I really wanted to like the show but despite its stunning visuals there were so many things that bothered me about it, especially the lack of consequence for things like murder, that i couldn't even finish the first season. What bothered me even more is how everyone on the internet seemed to praise the show and defend it from criticism despite all its blatant flaws. I'm very glad to see someone adress these flaws and break them down in detail.

"No offense to the smartest person that ever lived" I nearly spit my food out hahaha I can't believe I missed this video. Glad to see you are still crushing it.

Great video, some great points that I had never even considered until you pointed them out for me. You really do your research! The scripting and editing 🤌🔥 Keep smashing it, always looking forward to the next video!

HotD is not a classical hero's journey with big decisions that drive the plot: That's what I liked about it. It's a good thing IMO that HotD is not like GOT and tries to be something different. All these characters are just miserable beings thrown around by unlucky circumstances that escalated out of control. It doesn't make for an epic, emotional story, sure, but it's refreshing.

The real problem with the writing starts with George R R Martin... With "A Dance With Dragons" he was not allowed to write that part of the tale as he had wished. HBO, I believe, did not care about his methodology. So he rushed through it, creating a terribly disconnected story, leaving fragments for the screenwriters to try (unsuccessfully) to create a cohesive finale from. This time he wrote two novels (IMHO) to appease his contract holders. "We signed you for 7 novels. We demand 7 novels." Many writers, especially fiction writers do not respond well to pressure. I am the same way.

Whilst I did really enjoy HotD on my second watch, I definitely agree the time jumps took away alot from the story and felt somewhat unnecessary. Did nothing interesting happen in that 10 years? And Viserys refusing to die was hilarious 😂 Edit: I also agree with the rich assholes part. It would have been nice to see how the smallfolk were faring under Viserys and actually see him rule

100% right on all accounts. i think every single thing you mentioned went through my and my boyfriend's minds while we watched the series. generally the way conversations with friends and family go is that they say they like hotd, i point out some of these arguments, they go, "oh... yeah... that hadn't occurred to me but you're so right!" kind of funny how to a tee all these dialogues have been. i guess people are pretty much willing to eat up whatever slop they're served tbh

Yes! Season 1 is a season of all Sansa characters and plots… really hope they work out a better way to tell a story in the next seasons

How on earth do you count the words in these shows?

Dude you nailed it, “Harry Potter moment” that was spot on

This must be the only negative House of the Dragon review video on RU-vid. No idea why it was in my recommended lol

Man you nailed exactly how I felt about this show. Your videos are friggin gold!

Well i did dislike some things in season 1 like we needed more development with the children, laena and harwin strong, we also needed some resolution for criston killing joffrey and being allowed to still be kings guard. I also hated that they made vmeverything a misunderstanding like Alicent misunderstanding viserys and aemond accidently killing lucerys. But I also know that tv writers aren't the best writers and fire and blood wasn't the best book due to 0 pov chapters

Thanks for pointing this out! I couldn't relate to anything that was happening since episode 1, mind you I just started watching to not miss the conversation but I really couldn't make it, to me all drama was fabricated in order for the series to happen with no real conflict, just unlikable people behaving like shit to prove that "it was like this in that time".

This channel is criminally underrated

I felt the same thing, but for some reason I believed something was wrong in me, because everyone was praising it, and now with the second season coming up, I hope the show runners have watched your video.

We met you at the bar today❤️ Du var riktigt skön❤️

Everyone desperately wants to love HOTD because it's our only chance at fixing what happened to GOT season 8. It's better than GOT season 8 but nowhere near as engaging as the best of GOT. I understand that it's a prologue season and the true show starts in season 2 but still, there are a lot of questionable elements. The best GOT scenes were the ones directly taken from the books, this show doesn't have any quotes to lift from the books so some are good, and others sound like fanfic. The dragons design looks phenomenal, the actors are good, the set design is great but story-wise none of the characters feel real. You are right about them being passive, Rhaenyra and Aegon do absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. I like the twist of Aemond killing Luke by accident but the other accidents are ridiculous, I hate the fact that Cole killed Joffrey Lonmouth and violated his guest's rights and faced no consequences.

Awesome breakdown! I struggled to work out why I didnt care about anyone in the show before watching this 😂

The time skips were frustrating, and I wish we had a lot more development with Laena and Harwin in particular (even just one or two more episodes would've made a big difference), but I think most of the issues stem from GRRM and HBO behind the scenes. The source material isn't the easiest to adapt due to the format it was written in, but that aside, I don't think it was allowed to be adapted in the way the "creatives" (like Ryan Condal and GRRM) actually wanted to. I know that George wanted to start the story as far back as Jaehaerys' reign (if not the Conquest), but HBO didnt know how successful it would be/ how many seasons it would get and said no. They wanted to start right at the Dance, but George and Ryan convinced them to start further back so the audience had more context and insight into the relationships between the characters. I think Ryan wanted to do a whole season with young Rhaenyra and Alicent, but HBO said no again, and this was kind of like a compromise. The most frustrating thing about it is that HBO was originally only planning to do 2 or maybe 3 seasons, but now they're probably gonna do 4 or 5, so we could've actually had a whole season with Young Rhaenyra and Alicent 😒 I liked it for the most part, and really just saw the first season as more of a Prologue for the upcoming seasons. I liked the first episode of Season 2, and Im excited to see more.

As a reader of the ASOIAF and Fire and Blood, I really have loved HOTD!! I think after the disappointment of seasons 7 and 8 of GOT, I was just happy that they made a series that was coherent with the source material, and was enjoyable to watch 😂 This video has made me think a little more critically though, because you're right - there's tons of exposition where there should be slow buildup of character motivation, and huge plot points are things that happened by accident as opposed to driven by character motivation. I will say, I liked the passivity of Vhaegar killing Arrax and Luke without Aemond's direction and Allicent misunderstanding Viserys dying wish because Fire and Blood gives us the "official history" of the Dance, but a large theme of that book (I think) is that history cannot *truly* know the motivations of those with great power, period. But that's just me. I agree the big leaps in time make it hard to make compelling characters, but I think this story in particular (one that takes place over the course of about 30 years) would be difficult to tell on TV without skipping ahead to the more interesting bits. All in all, I'll probably be a little more discerning of the second season of HOTD, but I'm excited to see where they take the story and characters.

I enjoyed HotD and looking forward to the dance next season. Was it as good as the 1st few GOT seasons...no. But it was still really really good I thought. Not perfect,but damn good. And FYI Daemon is not evil,morally gray yes, but not evil. Don't do my man dirty like that!

really hope Ryan Condal watched this video… seriously doubt it, but one could still hope. got bad feelings this is gonna go down like the Titanic: first Miguel Sapochnik totally abandons HOTD and 2nd we’re all waiting more than two years for a second season that is only eight episodes instead of 10, wtf??

The crab feeder is not a filler plotline o think you would know what you are talking about if you have read fire and blood

It is unrealistic to expect HOTD to have the same depth as GoT. You say that not having proper books as source materal is no excuse. But lets be realistic here... other than early GoT, when has anyone ever created a TV show with that depth and breadth of world building, character development and plot intrigue? Thats why GoT was groundbreaking. And as soon as they didnt have books to rely on in the later seasons it all went to shit. So how can you expect to get the quality of early season GoT from HOTD? I think the greatest problem was your unrealistically high expectations. That being said, I do agree with your comments about the pacing. It probably would have been better with two seasons with more detailed development, however, unfortunately the writers clearly didnt have enough ideas to fill two seasons. I don't think this show is lacking regarding its commentary on the patriarchy and struggles of women though. I think this theme is placed front and centre in the show and is blatantly obvious. The actions of both Rhaeneyra and Alicent are heavily driven by the shitty positions they are put in within the patriarchal system. If you can't see that I don't even know what to say to you... open your eyes? Whilst difficult to watch, this show has also done what very few do: highlight the impact of childbirth and motherhood upon women's lives. The violence and danger of childbirth. The way that even powerful and ambitious women can become subdued when forced in to the mould of motherhood. How dark and twisted a mother's love can become if the only way of gaining power or having an identity is through pupetting the lives of their children. For me, the change in Rhaeneyra's character following the time jump was the most jarring part of the show. One can rationalise it by considering she was a teenager before the jump, and is now a mother of many children and currently going through a difficult pregnancy/birth. But, for me, it is still difficult to see them as the same character. Watching Rhaeneyra's character change over time would have been an interesting exploration of a complex woman in a patriarchal system.

In my opinion the shows plot is just not that interesting, end of. Good acting but not naturalistic at all. Everything was over dramatized. The characters weren't grounded like GoT where most acted like human beings - vulgar, joking, showing emotion etc.

We are so starved for proper television these days. People just do not want to hear an ok show isn't as great as they want it to be.

Finally someone who doesn't have blind praise for this show

Is it Unpopular Opinion or is it considered a mixed bag. which is it lol.

I'm GoT fans outside of the US。Before I watched this video，I've watched another HoTD reviews last year that used the most sarcastic and hilarious manner in reviewing the series。Based on that reviews，I've decided not to bother with HoTD。Not even worthy of my money to be spent for my DVD collections。

(The office meme) Thank you! The time jumps really ruins the story and characters. Because you dont get to know any of them

The reason why HOTD felt like the latter seasons of GOT is that they had the same type of source material. The source material being like bullet type points of things that will happen. Since, books are not yet finished, GRRM gave D&D bullet points to finish GOT but did a very poor job at writing the last seasons. Hence, the downfall of GOT starting from season 5 or 6. HOTD was based on Fire and Blood, which is like a timeline of what happened during the civil war between the Targaryens written by maesters. However, I agree with you that the writing could have done better. Much like the first four seasons of GOT. But, unlike GOT, HOTD don’t have the same rich material that GOT has. Thus, making it seem like HOTD is very plot driven, not character driven like its predecessor.

thanks for that! now I can finally complain about it properly, because it was so lame that i couldn't remember sht to argue with people 😶‍🌫️

Asbury so much content nowadays the creators seem to minimise the importance of a script writer instead it seems to be story beats that want to be hit and characters who blurt out how they want to get there it looks good but it's childish... Sigh!

I was honestly enjoying the show and having a great time because I´ve been starved from ASOIAF content for years, but they really kinda lost me with the Alicent thinking Viserys wants Aegon to be king because of a mistake, and then the entire civil war beginning because a kid lost control of his dragon. I get the point of both but I really liked how you explained that characters are passive and not active about what they want, with a bunch of accidents shaping the war to come. PS: I think one of the better things about the show was Viserys´ character, he´s a lot more interesting than the book version and his flaws a lot more human and complex that just being a drunk who didn´t give a fuck about anything, I thought they nailed that to be honest.

tudo verdade, muito bom kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk mas ainda foi uma boa serie pra assistir ano passado, sendo que não tem mas nenhuma boa por ai pra assistir

If only HBO had the capability of frying to give a show more than 10 ep Even 12 ep would have worked with setting up aegon , laena , harwin and many other things

Your looking for problems. Your criticism would have some spine if it was just some show like the Witcher. But it’s a spin off not rip off. It has every right to use it’s predecessor. Your also the only person to accuse the show of filler story lines. Most people want more story lines

lol thank you thank you thank you

You are Effing BRILLIANT! I've never watched or listened to someone so studied scripts and shows life you have. It's quite remarkable! I love it and will watch EVERYTHING YOU MAKE.

HOTD was just a repetition of GOT season 8. I wanted it to like it so much, and for every episode that was released, I was telling myself that we have n number of episodes for this series to redeem itself. Yes there were good moments that felt good like daemon cutting off someones head and tongue, we got some dragons which, come on we are here for the dragons but it jus feel like the show is trying too hard. The only good moment was the prince being chewed up in the air like you said, but it was too late. I never understood why anyone would switch sides the way they did, they almost gaslighting us every episode.. Since when did Rhaenyra not want the thorne? she spent her entire annoying adolesecent years wanting to rule. Since when did alicent wanted to fight? she spent all her years wanting to wife. Yes, they got kids, but the motivations are not consistent, like you have mentioned. How did criston cole got SOOOO mad just cuz he got ghosted, mad enough to destroy someones face and become alicent's mountain, and wow how did Rhaeny just decided to risk everything for Rhaenyra when she hated her growing up just fcking stop.. Thank you for this video to know that, OG GOT fans aint alone.

Why the hell does this show look and feel like The Witcher?

I feel like the show was made for the people who spend too much time snorting ASOIAF dust

Honestly, I watched HotD before I watched GoT, and I enjoyed it (Daemon is a truly amazing character), but you do make good points and I don’t disagree with you

complain much? lol What a waste of a video and my time not a fair take at all in my opinion

Finally someone who also finds House of the Dragon lackluster. It was just "alright" at best and tbh just as bad as the later GoT seasons at worst.

Good to know I didn´t miss out on anything by not watching House of the Dragon.

Ahhh miss the simple times of Game of Thrones season 5 episodes and reviews... How life moves... 🥹